


Fireflies

by Erratus



Series: Rayllum Week 2019 [1]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2020-01-10 19:34:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18414461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erratus/pseuds/Erratus
Summary: Rayla needed to see it. She knew what Callum was, a human. And with the primal stone gone, he was going to do what humans did. Dark magic. She needed to show herself this. To prove that Callum wasn't the sweet, loving, righteous boy she had come to view him as. He was ahuman.





	Fireflies

**Author's Note:**

> Going to kick off Rayllum week by posting a little bit early. I don't have stories for every day, but I do have more coming.

It wasn't that late. The sun had only set across the Cursed Caldera a few hours ago but the night sky was already filled with fireflies. They were beautiful. One of the rare magical creatures outside of Xadia.

“Come on Callum, it's not that bad,” Claudia coaxed him. He looked uncertain. Rayla stared on from a tree. She was disgusted, but not particularly surprised.

“You said you wanted to learn magic,” she added with a touch of confusion. “Let me show you,” she offered as she caught a firefly. She balled her fist, crushing the insect. Immediately her eyes turned entirely black and purple tendrils slunk out of her hand. She spoke foreign words that weren't supposed to come out of a human mouth. They came from all around and demanded that the natural order of the world halt. A ball of gentle light appeared and the world seemed to instantly calm. Rayla still felt sick.

She had never seen dark magic before leaving Xadia. She heard it was evil but never imagined it was like this.

“See, this orb will follow me around, lighting my way. It's super useful for finding the bathroom in the middle of the night,” Claudia smiled at Callum. If the dark magic wasn't enough to make Rayla want to vomit, her casual attitude about it did.

Rayla wanted to leave the pair to their human ways, and she fully intended to. Just as soon as Callum repeated the process. Rayla needed to see it. She knew what Callum was, a human. And with the primal stone gone, he was going to do what humans did. Dark magic. She needed to show herself this. To prove that Callum wasn't the sweet, loving, righteous boy she had come to view him as. He was a _human_. So she stared from her spot, waiting for him to do it. Just do it, so she could stop fooling herself.

Callum captured his own firefly and paused. He slowly cracked his cupped hand open to get a look at his victim.

“Claudia... I don't want to learn this magic,” he seemed almost pained to say it. He opened his hand to reveal the alive and well firefly. It seemed happy to make a temporary perch out of his hand. “Can you teach me more sky magic?,” he suggested instead.

Claudia frowned. “Not without a primal stone, no,” her words were soft and gentle but Rayla could detect traces of frustration. “Callum, this is how we do magic. There really isn't any other way,” she continued with the same gentle, measured tone.

The firefly decided to leave Callum's hand and drift off into the night. “Well, I'm not going to do…” he trailed off for a moment, looking for the words. “This,” he finally finished, gesturing to the world around him.

“Callum,” Claudia sighed, though she seemed to not have anything else to say. It was all the same to Callum though. He shook his head, signaling her to stop trying.

“I'm going to go check on Ezran and Zym,” he used this to excuse himself and scamper away into the darkness. Claudia dropped all her warmth and her face turned into a pout.

“What you are smiling about, elf?” she snapped, looking at Rayla for the first time. She didn't even realize a huge grin had spread across own face.

“Looks like your pupil had better places to be,” Rayla couldn't keep the gleeful sarcasm out of her voice. She laughed as she followed Callum’s lead and disappeared into the trees.

Maybe Callum wasn't just another human. Maybe he was better than that. But why did that make Rayla so damn giddy?


End file.
